Big Bill Broonzy

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Biography

Big Bill Broonzy (June 26, 1903 – August 15, 1958) was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences. In the 1950s a return to his traditional folk-blues roots made him one of the leading figures of the emerging American folk music revival and an international star. His long and varied career marks him as one of the key figures in the development of blues music in the 20th century.

Broonzy copyrighted more than 300 songs during his lifetime, including both adaptations of traditional music|traditional folk song s and original blues songs. As a blues composer, he was unique in that his compositions reflected the many vantage points of his rural-to-urban experiences.Barlow, William. "Looking Up At Down": The Emergence of Blues Culture . Temple University Press (1989), pp. 301–03. ISBN 0-87722-583-4.

Life and career

Early years

Born Lee Conley Bradley , "Big Bill" was one of Frank Broonzy (Bradley) and Mittie Belcher's 17 children. His birth site and date are disputed. While he claimed birth in Bolivar County, Mississippi , an entire body of emerging research suggests that Broonzy was actually born in Jefferson County, Arkansas . Broonzy claimed he was born in 1893 and many sources report that year, but after his death, family records suggested that the year was actually 1903. Soon after his birth the family moved to Pine Bluff, Arkansas , where Bill spent his youth. He began playing music at an early age. At the age of 10 he made himself a fiddle from a cigar box and learned how to play spiritual (music)|spirituals and folk songs from his uncle, Jerry Belcher. He and a friend named Louis Carter, who played a homemade guitar, began performing at social and church functions. These early performances included playing at "two-stages": picnics where whites danced on one side of the stage and blacks on the other.Stambler, p. 74

On the understanding that he was born in 1898 rather than earlier or later, sources suggest that in 1915, 17-year-old Broonzy was married and working as a sharecropper . He had decided to give up the fiddle and become a preacher. There is a story that he was offered $50 and a new violin if he would play four days at a local venue. Before he could respond to the offer, his wife took the money and spent it, so he had to play. In 1916 his crop and stock were wiped out by drought. Broonzy went to work locally until he was drafted into the Army in 1917. Broonzy served two years in Europe during the World War I|first world war . Then after his discharge from the Army in 1919, Broonzy returned to Pine Bluff, Arkansas where he is reported to have been called a racial epithet and told by a white man he knew before the war that he needed to "hurry up and get his soldier uniform off and put on some overalls." He immediately left Pine Bluff and moved to the Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock area but a year later in 1920 moved north to Chicago in search of opportunity.Stambler, p. 73

1920s

After arriving in Chicago, Broonzy made the switch to guitar. He learned guitar from Minstrel show|minstrel and medicine show veteran Papa Charlie Jackson , who began recording for Paramount Records in 1924.Dahl, Bill; Liner notes to the CD Blues Is My Business , Fuel 2000 records, 2003. Through the 1920s Broonzy worked a string of odd jobs, including Pullman porter , cook, foundry worker and custodian, to supplement his income, but his main interest was music. He played regularly at rent party|rent parties and social gatherings, steadily improving his guitar playing. During this time he wrote one of his signature tunes, a solo guitar piece called "Saturday Night Rub".

Thanks to his association with Jackson, Broonzy was able to get an audition with Paramount executive J. Mayo Williams . His initial test recordings, made with his friend John Thomas on vocals, were rejected, but Broonzy persisted, and his second try, a few months later, was more successful. His first record, "Big Bill's Blues" backed with "House Rent Stomp", credited to "Big Bill and Thomps" (Paramount 12656), was released in 1927. Although the recording was not well-received, Paramount retained their new talent and the next few years saw more releases by "Big Bill and Thomps". The records continued to sell poorly. Reviewers considered his style immature and derivative.Charters; pp. 117–18

1930s

In 1930 Paramount for the first time used Broonzy's full name on a recording, "Station Blues" – albeit misspelled as "Big Bill Broomsley". Record sales continued to be poor, and Broonzy was working at a grocery store. Broonzy was picked up by Lester Melrose , who produced acts for various labels including Champion Records|Champion and Gennett Records . He recorded several sides which were released in the spring of 1931 under the name "Big Bill Johnson".Charters; pg. 118. In March 1932 he traveled to New York City and began recording for the American Record Corporation on their line of less expensive record label|labels : ( Melotone Records|Melotone , Perfect Records , et al.). These recordings sold better and Broonzy was becoming better known. Back in Chicago he was working regularly in South Side (Chicago)|South Side clubs, and even toured with Memphis Minnie .

In 1934 Broonzy moved to Bluebird Records and began recording with pianist Bob "Black Bob" Call. His fortunes soon improved. With Call his music was evolving to a stronger Rhythm and Blues|R& B sound, and his singing sounded more assured and personal. In 1937, he began playing with pianist Joshua Altheimer , recording and performing using a small instrumental group, including "traps" (drums) and Double bass as well as one or more melody instruments (horns and/or harmonica). In March 1938 he began recording for Vocalion Records .Charters; p. 120 Broonzy's reputation grew and in 1938 he was asked to fill in for the recently deceased Robert Johnson (musician)|Robert Johnson at the John H. Hammond -produced From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall . He also appeared in the 1939 concert at the same venue. His success led him in this same year to a small role in ''Swingin' the Dream'', Gilbert Seldes 's jazz adaptation of Shakespeare 's '' Midsummer Night's Dream , set in 1890 New Orleans and featuring, among others, Louis Armstrong as Bottom and Maxine Sullivan as Titania, with the Benny Goodman sextet.

Broonzy's own recorded output through the 1930s only partially reflects his importance to the Chicago blues scene. His half-brother, Washboard Sam , and close friends, Jazz Gillum , and Tampa Red , also recorded for Bluebird. Broonzy was credited as composer on many of their most popular recordings of that time. He reportedly played guitar on most of Washboard Sam's tracks. Due to his exclusive arrangements with his own record label, Broonzy was always careful to have his name only appear on these artists' records as "composer".

1940s

Broonzy expanded his work during this period as he honed his song writing skills which showed a knack for appealing to his more sophisticated city audience as well as people that shared his country roots. His work in this period shows he performed across a wider musical spectrum than almost any other bluesman before or since including ragtime, hokum blues, country blues, city blues, jazz tinged songs, folk songs and spirituals. After World War II, Broonzy recorded songs that were the bridge that allowed many younger musicians to cross over to the future of the blues: the electric blues of post war Chicago. His 1945 recordings of "Where the Blues Began" with Big Maceo on piano and Buster Bennett on sax, or "Martha Blues" with Memphis Slim on piano, clearly show the way forward. One of his best-known songs, " Key to the Highway ", appeared at this time. When the second American Federation of Musicians strike ended in 1948, Broonzy was picked up by the Mercury Records|Mercury labelStambler, p. 75

1950s

At the start of the 1950s, Broonzy became part of a touring folk music revue formed by Win Stracke called I Come for to Sing , which also included Studs Terkel and Lawrence Lane. Terkel called him the key figure in this group. The group had some success thanks to the emerging folk revival movement. The exposure made it possible for Broonzy to tour Europe in 1951.

In Europe, Broonzy was greeted with standing ovations and critical praise wherever he played. The tour marked a turning point in his fortunes, and when he returned to the United States he was a featured act with many prominent folk artists such as Pete Seeger , Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee . From 1953 on his financial position became more secure and he was able to live quite well on his music earnings. Broonzy returned to his solo folk music|folk -blues roots, and travelled and recorded extensively. Broonzy's numerous performances during the 1950s in the UK, and in particular at folk clubs in London and Edinburgh , were influential in the nascent British_folk_revival#The_second_British_folk_revival_1945-69|British folk revival , with many British musicians on the folk scene, such as Bert Jansch , citing him as an important influence.Harper, Colin (2006) Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch and the British Folk and Blues Revival , Bloomsbury

While in Holland , Broonzy met and fell in love with a Dutch people|Dutch girl, Pim van Isveldt. Together they had a child named Michael who still lives in Amsterdam.

In 1953, Dr. Vera (King) Morkovin and Studs Terkel took Broonzy to Circle Pines Center , a cooperative year-round camp in Hastings, Michigan , where he was employed as the summer camp cook. He worked there in the summer from '53–'56. On 4 July 1954, Pete Seeger travelled to Circle Pines and gave a concert with Bill on the farmhouse lawn, which was recorded by Seeger for the new fine arts radio station in Chicago, WFMT-FM . Tape Collection, AFS 14,172–14,175 Mississippi Folk Music Collection, recorded 1956. Retrieved on June 6, 2008

In 1955, with the assistance of Belgium|Belgian writer Yannick Bruynoghe, Broonzy published his autobiography, entitled Big Bill Blues . He toured worldwide to Africa, South America, the Pacific Ocean|Pacific region and across Europe into early 1956. In 1957 Broonzy was one of the founding faculty members of the Old Town School of Folk Music . At the school's opening night on 1 December, he taught a class "The Glory of Love".

By 1958 Broonzy was suffering from the effects of Head and neck cancer|throat cancer . He died 15 August 1958, and is buried in Lincoln Cemetery (Blue Island)|Lincoln Cemetery , Blue Island, Illinois .

Style and influence

Broonzy's own influences included the folk music , spirituals , work songs , ragtime music, hokum and country blues he heard growing up, and the styles of his contemporaries, including Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)|Jimmie Rodgers , Blind Blake , Son House , and Blind Lemon Jefferson . Broonzy combined all these influences into his own style of the blues that foreshadowed the post-war Chicago blues sound, later refined and popularized by artists such as Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon .

Although he had been a pioneer of the Chicago blues style and had employed electric instruments as early as 1942, his new, white audiences wanted to hear him playing his earliest songs accompanied only by his own acoustic guitar , since this was considered to be more "authentic".

A considerable part of his early ARC/CBS recordings have been reissued in anthology collections by CBS-Sony, and other earlier recordings have been collected on blues reissue labels, as have his later European and Chicago recordings of the 1950s. The Smithsonian's Folkways Records has also released several albums featuring Big Bill Broonzy.

In 1980, he was inducted into the first class of the Blues Hall of Fame along with 20 other of the world's greatest blues legends. In 2007, he was inducted into the first class of the Gennett Records Walk of Fame along with 11 other musical greats including Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Gene Autry, Lawrence Welk and others.

Broonzy as an acoustic guitar player, inspired Muddy Waters , Memphis Slim , Ray Davies , John Renbourn , Rory Gallagher , Ben Taylor (musician)|Ben Taylor ,Taylor Cow Cow Yicky Yicky"> and Steve Howe (guitarist)|Steve Howe

In Q Magazine (September 2007) it is reported that Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones claims that Bill Broonzy's track, "Guitar Shuffle", is his favorite guitar music. Wood said, "It was one of the first tracks I learnt to play, but even to this day I can't play it exactly right."

During the benediction at the 2009 inauguration ceremony of President Barack Obama , the civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery paraphrased Broonzy's song "Black, Brown and White Blues".

Discography

Between 1927 and 1942, Broonzy recorded 224 songs, making him the second most prolific blues recording artist during that period.
These were released before blues records were tracked by recording industry trade magazines. By the time Billboard instituted the first of its " race music " charts in October 1942, Broonzy's recordings were less popular and none appeared in the charts.

Selected singles

Many of Broonzy's singles were issued by more than one record company, sometimes under different names. Additional versions of some songs were also released. These are marked with a "⁺".

Date	Title	Label & Cat. no.	Comments
1927	"Big Bill's Blues"	Paramount 12656⁺	as Big Bill and Thomps
1927	"House Rent Stomp"	Paramount 12656	as Big Bill and Thomps
1930	"Station Blues"	Paramount 13084	as Big Bill Broomsley
	"Saturday Night Rub"	Perfect Records>Perfect 147⁺	as Famous Hokum Boys
	"I Can't Be Satisfied"	Perfect 157	as Sammy Sampson
1932	"Mistreatin' Mama"	Champion 16396⁺	as Big Bill Johnson
1934	"At the Break of Day"	Bluebird 5571⁺
1934	" C. C. Rider "	Melotone 13311⁺
1935	Midnight Special (song)>Midnight Special "	Vocalion 3004	as State Street Boys
1935	"Bricks In My Pillow"	ARC 6–03–62
1936	Matchbox Blues "	ARC 6–05–56⁺
1937	"Mean Old World"	Melotone 7–07–64⁺
1937	"Louise Louise Blues"	Vocalion 3075⁺
1938	"New Shake 'Em on Down "	Vocalion 4149⁺	George Barnes
1938	" Night Time Is the Right Time No. 2"	Vocalion 4149⁺	electric guitar by George Barnes
1939	"Just a Dream"	Vocalion 4706⁺
1939	"Too Many Drivers"	Vocalion 5096
1940	"You Better Cut That Out"	Okeh 5919
	"Lonesome Road Blues"	Okeh 6031
	Baby (song)>Rockin' Chair Blues "	Okeh 6116⁺
1941	"All By Myself"	Okeh 6427⁺
	" Key to the Highway "	Okeh 6242⁺
	"Wee Wee Hours"	Okeh 6552
	"I Feel So Good"	Okeh 6688⁺
1942	"I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town"	Okeh 6651	as Big Bill & His Chicago 5
1951	"Hey Hey"	Mercury 8271

Big Bill Broonzy also appeared as a sideman on recordings by Lil Green , Sonny Boy Williamson I , Washboard Sam , and Jazz Gillum .

Albums

Big Bill Broonzy and Roosevelt Sykes DVD (1956)

"His Story" ( Folkways Records ) 1957 at Smithsonian Folkways

"Blues with Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee" ( Folkways Records ) 1959

"Big Bill Broonzy Sings Folk Songs" ( Smithsonian Folkways ) 1989

Best of the Blues Tradition (1991)

Do That Guitar Rag (1928–1935) (1991)

"Trouble In Mind" ( Smithsonian Folkways ) 2000

Broonzy Volume 2: 1945–1949: The Post War Years (2000)

Big Bill Broonzy In Concert (2002)

Big Bill Broonzy On Tour In Britain: Live In England & Scotland (2002)

Big Bill Blues: His 23 Greatest Songs 1927–42 (2004)

Big Bill Amsterdam Live Concerts 1953 (2006)

Keys to the Blues (2009)

Copyright Citations

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1. Bert Jansch 2. Louis Jordan 3. Ralph McTell 4. Kenny Neal 5. John Renbourn 6. Leadbelly 7. Huddie Ledbetter 8. Papa Charlie Jackson 9. Tampa Red 10. Old Crow Medicine Show 11. Derek And The Dominos 12. Brian Protheroe 13. Brownie McGhee 14. Eric Sardinas 15. Johnson, Robert 16. Lonnie Johnson 17. Memphis Minnie 18. Memphis Slim 19. Mississippi Sheiks 20. Peetie Wheatstraw 21. r&b 22. Sleepy John Estes 23. Sonny Terry 24. Rhythm & Blues 25. Pierre Bensusan

Undetermined Music Artists